Congo rebel goes on trial at ICC

A rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo was forced to answer for his alleged crimes at the first trial at the International Criminal Court.

Thomas Lubanga, the former leader of an armed militia in eastern Congo, faces six charges of forcibly recruiting child soldiers. Photo: AP

By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor

4:32PM GMT 26 Jan 2009

Thomas Lubanga, who once led an armed militia in DR Congo, faces six charges of forcibly recruiting child soldiers.

Lubanga, who has pleaded innocent, stands accused of using these children to commit atrocities in Congo's eastern region of Ituri between 2002 and 2003.

Campaigners believe that Mr Lubanga's presence in The Hague marks a crucial moment of accountability. This is the first time that an African rebel leader has faced justice for allegedly using child soldiers.

Opening the case before three judges, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor, told the court that Mr Lubanga had "systematically" recruited children under the age of 15 into his rebel army, the Union of Congolese Patriots.

"Lubanga's militia recruited, trained and used hundreds of young children to kill, pillage and rape," said Mr Moreno-Ocampo. "The children still suffer the consequences of Lubanga's crimes. They cannot forget what they suffered, what they saw, what they did. They were nine, 11, 13 years old."

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Evidence gathered by the prosecution suggests that Mr Lubanga compelled every village in the area he controlled to hand over money or children to his rebel movement. Some 34 witnesses are expected to testify against Mr Lubanga in a trial that will last for several months.

Given the pain inflicted on the victims of this war, Mr Moreno-Ocampo pledged to seek a "very severe" sentence of "close to the maximum" of 30 years.

The ICC was founded by the Statute of Rome in July 2002. Almost seven years later, only 12 arrest warrants have been issued and Mr Lubanga is the first suspect ever to face a full trial.

The proceedings were delayed for six months after Mr Moreno-Ocampo was found to have broken standard procedures by withholding evidence which could have exculpated Mr Lubanga. The trial only went ahead when this ruling was overturned on appeal.

Mr Lubanga, 48, was arrested in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, in 2005 and transferred to Holland in 2006.

A tribal conflict between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups has ravaged Ituri for many years. Mr Lubanga's largely Hema militia captured Bunia, the regional capital of Ituri, in 2003 and carried out numerous atrocities.

Yet the rebels did not bear sole responsibility for the bloodshed. They had powerful external supporters, notably President Yoweri Museveni's regime in neighbouring Uganda, which supplied Mr Lubanga's militia with weapons and ammunition and played a central part in stirring up Ituri's ethnic conflict. In return, Uganda benefited from gold reserves stolen from eastern Congo.

The ICC is investigating four African wars - in Northern Uganda, Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. Mr Moreno-Ocampo has asked for President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan to be indicted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. The court's "pre-trial chamber" is expected to rule on this application in the next few weeks.